obscenity
16 cases — ← All topics
| Case | Title | Lower Court | Docketed | Status | Flags | Tags | Question Presented |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 25-7088 | Eddie Seaton v. United States | Eighth Circuit | 2026-03-23 | Pending | Response WaivedIFP | child-pornography computer-forensics due-process first-amendment obscenity possession | 1. Petitioner was convicted 18 U.S.C. § 1466A(a)(1) of a child pornography offense for a hand drawn cartoon image on his computer involving no real or… |
| 24-7197 | Darrin Alonzo Miller v. United States | Fourth Circuit | 2025-05-13 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | content-analysis evidence-scope first-amendment jury-determination miller-test obscenity | Whether a jury, when determining whether a letter is "obscene," applying the test from Miller v. California, 413 U.S. 15 (1973), can consider evidence… |
| 23-859 | Zachary S. Spiegel v. United States | Eleventh Circuit | 2024-02-09 | Denied | Response Waived | attempted-enticement circuit-split criminal-law criminal-statute free-speech mandatory-sentencing obscene-speech obscenity sentencing statutory-interpretation substantial-step | Does speech alone (even obscene speech or "explicit sex talk") constitute the "substantial step" for a charge of attempted enticement of a minor to en… |
| 23-6146 | Catherine Denise Randolph v. United States District Court for the District of Maryland | Fourth Circuit | 2023-12-01 | Denied | IFP | appellate-review civil-rights constitutional-review criminal-procedure due-process free-speech harmless-error ineffective-assistance obscenity standing state-court-decision surveillance | Question not identified. |
| 23-5383 | Ramham Dupriest v. New Jersey | New Jersey | 2023-08-18 | Denied | Response RequestedResponse WaivedRelisted (2)IFP | first-amendment fourteenth-amendment free-speech minor mistake-of-age obscene-material obscenity scienter | I. Does it violate First Amendment free speech protections to convict a person for conduct involving distributing obscene material to a minor without … |
| 23-5087 | Michael R. v. Connecticut | Connecticut | 2023-07-12 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | child-pornography civil-rights constitutional-interpretation dost-factors due-process first-amendment free-speech miller-standard obscenity obscenity-test | 1. Should the six factor analysis set forth in United States v. Dost, 636 F. Supp. 828 (S.D. Cal. 1986), aff'd sub nom United States v. Weigand, 812 F… |
| 22-6519 | Thomas Alan Arthur v. United States | Fifth Circuit | 2023-01-11 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | civil-rights criminal-defense defendant-rights due-process evidence-exclusion free-speech harmful-error harmless-error judicial-review miller-test obscenity obscenity-standard | 1. Should this Court adopt the Seventh Circuit's rule that where a district court erroneously excludes evidence that makes up the entirety of a defend… |
| 22-202 | Leonardo Nuncio v. Texas | Texas | 2022-09-06 | Denied | constitutional-vagueness criminal-procedure due-process first-amendment free-speech harassment-statute obscenity obscenity-test overbreadth texas-penal-code vagueness | 1. Is Texas's obscene harassment statute (Tex. Penal Code 42.07(a)(1) and (b)(3)) unconstitutionally vague and overbroad? 2. Does the Miller v. Calif… | |
| 20-1635 | Michael Anthony Casillas v. Minnesota | Minnesota | 2021-05-24 | Denied | civil-rights criminal-law criminal-statute due-process first-amendment free-speech mens-rea nonconsensual-dissemination obscenity protected-speech strict-scrutiny | Does the First Amendment allow a state to criminalize protected speech by means of a statute aimed at prohibiting the nonconsensual dissemination of s… | |
| 20-7537 | Christopher D. Thieme v. New Jersey | New Jersey | 2021-03-23 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | cyber-harassment due-process free-speech libel obscenity overbreadth reasonable-person-standard scienter vagueness victim-impact-statements | Is New Jersey's "cyber-harassment" statute, N.J.S.A. 2C:33-4.1, constitutionally invalid because it lacks a scienter requirement and relies on a "reas… |
| 20-6289 | Catherine Denise Randolph v. United States District Court for the District of Maryland | Fourth Circuit | 2020-11-12 | Denied | IFP | civil-rights due-process free-speech jurisdiction obscenity public-forum | What is obscenity and how can it be identified under 19 U.S.C. § 1305 of Judicial Standards? Can the Three Prong Obscenity Test (19 Miller Test) help… |
| 19-999 | Lewis Alan Dugan v. Wyoming | Wyoming | 2020-02-10 | Denied | Response Waived | criminal-procedure criminal-prosecution due-process first-amendment free-speech jury-instruction obscenity overbreadth speech-conduct stalking-statute | 1. Whether, in a prosecution for writing obscene letters, a trial court should instruct a jury regarding the legal definition of the term "obscene" as… |
| 19-6100 | Melvyn Perry Sprowson, Jr. v. Nevada | Nevada | 2019-10-01 | Denied | Response RequestedResponse WaivedRelisted (2)IFP | ashcroft-v-free-speech-coalition child-pornography constitutional-limits facial-challenge first-amendment free-speech new-york-v-ferber obscenity obscenity-standards overbreadth sexual-abuse state-regulation | Nevada defines "child pornography" to include any depiction of a minor that "appeals to a shameful or morbid interest in the sexuality of the minor an… |
| 19-5577 | Spencer Salcedo v. United States | Fifth Circuit | 2019-08-13 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | community-standards constitutional-protection due-process first-amendment free-speech hard-core-sexual-conduct obscenity obscenity-standard pornography sexual-content | Whether a still image of an erect penis portrays the kind of "patently offensive," "hard core sexual conduct" that qualifies as constitutionally unpro… |
| 18-1202 | Pedro Montalvo, Jr. v. Ohio | Ohio | 2019-03-15 | Denied | 6th-amendment child-pornography computer-age constitutional-rights criminal-procedure doyle-violation due-process massiah-doctrine obscenity right-to-defense scienter sixth-amendment strict-liability | 1. Whether Ohio's imposition of strict liability for even inadvertent, accidental or unknowing dissemination of child pornography violates due process… | |
| 18-6939 | Jonathan S. Nelson v. Joe Norwood, Secretary, Kansas Department of Corrections, et al. | Tenth Circuit | 2018-12-07 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | child-pornography conviction-reversal de-novo-review due-process first-amendment obscenity scienter | Concerning a violation of KSA 21-3516a(2), given that the images' nature was reasonably disputed, does the right to a de novo review demand the revers… |